One For The Money
by MrLoonSalvatore
Summary: Bonnie does a spell to turn Stefan human again so he can be with Elena, but it horribly backfires and instead puts Damon into a coma. Will Elena be able to cope without one of the most important people in her life? And who will be there to comfort Stefan? Inspired by the TV show Saving Hope. Delena/Steroline
1. Chapter 1

**Title: One for the Money  
Rating: T  
Characters: Damon, Stefan, Elena, Bonnie, Caroline  
Pairing(s): Delena, Steroline, some Stelena  
Summary: Bonnie does a spell to turn Stefan human again so he can be with Elena, but it horribly backfires and instead puts Damon into a coma. Will Elena be able to cope without one of the most important people in her life? And who will be there to comfort Stefan? Inspired by the TV show **_**Saving Hope**_**.**

Stefan, Elena, Caroline and Bonnie waited nervously in the waiting room. Elena paced back and forth in front of the row of chairs. Caroline had her fingers to her mouth and was biting on her nails with worry. Bonnie stared straight ahead with a horrible look of guilt on her face. Stefan looked like he wanted to jump up and run back into the emergency room after the paramedics that sped his brother through the double doors. In reality, that's what they all wanted to do, but none of them did.

They'd been waiting for an hour and a half without any news before Meredith jogged through those same double doors that all four of them had wanted to run through. Elena froze in her pacing. Caroline lowered her hand. Bonnie bit her lip. Stefan stood quickly. The doctor's face was white with exhaustion as she shook her head slowly, walking over to give them news.

Bad news.

The first words Meredith said caused Elena to bring a hand to her mouth, Caroline to widen her eyes, Bonnie to put her head in her hands, and Stefan to sit back down just as quickly as he'd stood up. All four of the teens shook their heads, the words echoing through their minds. _He's in a coma…_ That could have been good news. A coma meant he wasn't dead, didn't it?

Elena nodded slowly when the words started to sink in. _He's in a coma…_ No. He couldn't be. He was _Damon_. He wasn't even human, except that he was. Short clips of the night flickered through the doppelgänger's thoughts…

_She pushed the boarding house door open slowly, carefully hiding the present for Stefan behind her back. The only sounds in the house were someone's footsteps upstairs and Elena did her best to stay silent as she went up. A small frown crossed over her face when she realized that the quiet footsteps belonged to none other than Damon Salvatore. "Damon," she greeted politely before starting for her boyfriend's room._

"_He's not home."_

_Damon's words caused her frown to deepen and her curiosity to peak. "Well, where is he?" The vampire shrugged and went back to what he'd been doing – reading _Gone with the Wind_ – whilst humming a slow melody. Elena narrowed her eyes and shook her head in annoyance. Of course he wasn't going to give an answer; why should he?_

_After walking into Stefan's room and setting the small box on his bed, she walked into his brother's room and grabbed the book from Damon's hands. "I was reading that!" he complained. The human shook her head, holding the book behind her back as he crossed his arms with a defeated huff. "He went with Bonnie and Caroline to plan a surprise for you, happy? Can I have my book back now?"_

_Elena narrowed her eyes again, this time in confusion. "Why does he need Bonnie and Caroline to help with my surprise?" She dropped the book on Damon's lap and left the room, frowning as she tried to figure out what Bonnie and Caroline could possibly have to do with a surprise for her._

_Damon frowned, mumbling something about losing his place in his book before following after her. "My job is to keep you hear while they go to the woods and do the spell." He scolded himself, _she isn't supposed to know about the spell, you idiot!_ Seconds later, he was standing in front of her, blocking her from going down the stairs. "I mean, to learn how to spell. You know Stefan; he needs spell check for every sentence."_

_She shook her head and tried to push past the vampire to go down the stairs. "I heard you loud and clear the first time, Damon. Either tell me what spell Bonnie's doing or let me through." Damon swallowed roughly. All they'd asked him to do was keep her here and not let her know anything was going on._

_Either way, he was going to fail at one of them. "He wants to be human for you."_

She collapsed in the chair next to Stefan's, her legs no longer able to support her. That was how it had started: Stefan wanted to surprise her with mortality, while Damon had only tried to help him. And look where it'd gotten him.

Stefan's eyes were locked on the ground as he slowly shook his head, not wanted to believe it. _He's in a coma…_ The vampire gritted his teeth, lost in his own flashback…

_Damon chased a frantic Elena into the clearing, managing to grab her before she could get to his brother. "No! Damon! Let me stop him!" Those tears, the salt water running down her cheeks, that's what undid him. He removed his arm from around her waist and watched her run, tackling Stefan to the ground just as the wave of power passed over their heads, heading straight for him instead._

It was his own fault, Stefan could have easily stood his ground against Elena, but he allowed her to take him down. Where would his brother be now if he hadn't?

Caroline watched Stefan worriedly. How was he dealing with this? It couldn't be easy. _He's in a coma…_ How does someone deal with their brother, their constant, their _rock_ of over a hundred years being trapped in that realm between sleep and death? She felt terrible. It was partially her fault that it had happened…

"_You keep saying you want to surprise Elena," she said excitedly, walking backwards in order to face Stefan. "So why don't you go ask Bonnie about that spell? I'm sure she'll help you." She nodded, jumping a bit when Stefan reached forward to grab her arm and stop her from running into someone behind her. Caroline smiled sheepishly, quickly widening her eyes again as she continued the conversation. "So? Are you gonna talk to Bonnie?"_

_Stefan shook his head, half in amusement. "I don't know, Caroline…"_

_A frown replaced her excited smile as she froze, crossing her arms. "Well, why not?"_

"_I'm not going to make a rash decision. And that would be one hell of a surprise." He put his pinky and thumb up, pantomiming a telephone call. "Oh, hi Elena. I have a surprise for you: I got your friend to turn me human again. Isn't that great?" He shook his head again and lowered his hand. "No. But, on the other hand, I'd be able to give her a family and anything else she could want." Stefan looked up in thought, smiling a bit when he realized how ingenious the plan really was._

_Caroline started bouncing in place at the sight of his smile. "So… Are you?"_

"_Yeah. I am."_

If she hadn't suggested him going to Bonnie to ask about that spell, they wouldn't be here.

Bonnie, like Caroline and Stefan, was dealing with some guilt of her own. _He's in a coma…_ It was _her_ magic that got him here. She didn't have to do the spell, but she wanted Stefan and Elena to be happy. It was ultimately her choice that had gotten him in this situation…

_She mumbled the Latin carefully, making sure to say it correctly. "Da hoc monstrum spiritum et vitam. Excitaretur e somno mortis aeternae." Bonnie knew Elena would love this surprise and spoke a bit louder. "Da hoc monstrum spiritum et vitam. Excitaretur e somno mortis aeternae." She paused for a moment when Elena and Damon entered the clearing before saying it one last time when the vampire held Elena around the waist, not noticing when he let go. "Da hoc monstrum spiritum et vitam. Excitaretur e somno mortis aeternae." She felt the power flow out of her and toward a now tackled Stefan… and Damon behind him._

All four of them continued staring at nothing, not noticing when Meredith left to go attend to other patients. Elena had tears slowly sliding down her cheeks, with Stefan's arm comfortingly slung around her shoulders as Caroline lay against his other shoulder and held Bonnie's hand tightly. Their lives had gone from pleasant and happy to dramatic and twisted in a matter of moments.

The same facts flickered through all their minds. _Only 80% of patients in a coma ever wake up… Chances lower to 4% after three weeks… Declared to be in a PVS soon after…_

They'd lost him. A brother. A friend. A father figure. A friendly rival. Gone.


	2. Chapter 2

**Title: One for the Money  
Rating: T  
Characters: Damon, Stefan, Elena, Bonnie, Caroline  
Pairing(s): Delena, Steroline, some Stelena  
Summary: Bonnie does a spell to turn Stefan human again so he can be with Elena, but it horribly backfires and instead puts Damon into a coma. Will Elena be able to cope without one of the most important people in her life? And who will be there to comfort Stefan? Inspired by the TV show **_**Saving Hope**_**.  
A/N: When I posted the first chapter, I got four views in roughly thirty seconds, which was an absolutely amazing feeling. Yes, the first chapter was mostly flashbacks, but this one won't have **_**any**_**. If you've seen **_**Saving Hope **_**you'll know that Charlie is in a coma and… I don't want to spoil it for those who haven't seen it because I'm using that idea in this chapter (and a bunch of others…) but if you **_**have**_** seen it, you'll know what's going on with Damon in this chapter. Also: PVS. Some people may have been wondering what that is. After three weeks, a person isn't technically in a coma anymore, he or she is in a Persistent Vegetative State (or a PVS).**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any part of TVD or Saving Hope, I only own my ideas (actually, half of those aren't mine either…)**

Damon walked into the hospital, stepping out of the way when a team of paramedics rushed a stretcher past him, and strode over to where he saw Elena, Stefan, Caroline, and Bonnie sitting, sitting in the empty chair next to Stefan and watching Elena pace. "_Why are you all here?_" he asked confusedly. There was no reason for any of them to be there unless Jeremy or Alaric was hurt.

He frowned when no one acknowledged him and waved his hand in front of Stefan's face. "_Hello? Stefan?_" When his brother still didn't reply, he stood up and walked over to where Caroline was and stood in front of her. "_Hey, Vampire Barbie, why are we all here?_" Damon's frown deepened when she only continued staring blankly, as if he wasn't even there.

The frown remained on his face as he went up to the check-in desk. "_Excuse me?_" He asked, brushing off the fact that the receptionist simply continued doing paperwork. "_Can you tell me if Jeremy Gilbert or Alaric Saltzman was admitted recently?_" She didn't acknowledge him, just like everyone else had done, and Damon walked over to a random person in the waiting room. "_Hey!_" The man was reading the paper with coffee in his hand and didn't look up. "_Hello!_" He didn't even blink. The frown on Damon's face deepened further as he walked toward the automatic doors, stopping in confusion when they don't open and he jumped back when someone came in. Taking a step forward, he walked into a brick wall. Well, that's what it _felt_ like. In reality, he'd walked into a barrier, like something that would keep vampires out.

Or keep them in.

Quickly spinning around, Damon did his best to jog at a human pace back over to where everyone was, whispering to Stefan. "_Stefan, the doors, we can't get out. Some witch put a spell on the hospital to keep vampires in; it's just like the tomb._" He sat down again, watching Elena's nervous pacing and occasionally glancing over at a still silent Stefan. After a few minutes, Damon stood, fuming, and faced his brother, not caring how loud he was. "_Do you not care that we can't leave? Are you paying attention to anything I'm saying?_"

When Stefan didn't even flinch, the elder Salvatore walked angrily over to a paramedic that was exiting the double doors to the emergency room, yelling as he walked back over to the automatic entry doors. "_Hello! Someone talk to me!_" Damon shook his head and walked back into the ER when a nurse walked out, searching for Meredith. He tried to stop one of the nurses in the hallway, frowning when she just kept walking, and ran around to talk to different people. "_Hello? Excuse me? Can you tell me where I could find Meredith Fell?_"

Glancing up, he finally saw her, no thanks to everyone else around, and ran over, following her down another hallway. "_Meredith, who was it that got hurt? Was it Jeremy? Alaric?_" She didn't answer as she sped up, going through the doors to the ICU and into another room. Damon stepped in front of her when she stopped, not even looking at the patient on the bed. "_So you're not going to tell me? You're just going to ignore me? Why is everyone doing this__‽_"

She shook her head sadly, still not acknowledging him, and turned to one of the nurses in the room. "I need to go tell Stefan, Elena, Caroline, and Bonnie. I'll be back in a few minutes."

Damon continued frowning as she left. Why didn't she need to tell _him_? He deserved to know too! He turned around, looking at the person in the hospital bed for the first time. The young man had unruly black curls and his eyes were closed, but he knew they were blue. Taking a hesitant step forward, he glanced at all the charts, not understanding anything they said except for one repeating word. _Coma… Coma… Coma…_ Damon's frown disappeared and his eyes softened as he stared down at himself.

If that was _him_ lying on that bed, then why was he up and walking around? Because if he were in a _coma_, like all the charts said, he _definitely_ shouldn't be walking around. He continued staring, the high-pitched whirring of the ventilator that was helping him breathe ringing in his ears. Meredith walked in again and stepped aside to let someone behind her through. Damon glanced up from his face to see Stefan now seated next to him, staring blankly, as if he didn't even see the limp form on the bed in front of him. After a few minutes of silence, Stefan stood and walked out, causing Damon's frown to return.

He spoke quietly to the empty room. "_Not even a single word, brother?_"


End file.
